The aircraft from 3 (Fighter) Squadron were ordered into the skies after four separate groups of aircraft were detected by Nato air defences in international airspace near to the Baltic states.

Flt Lt Mark Long, one of the pilots involved in the operation, said: “The Typhoon is a superb aircraft that makes intercepting other aircraft exceptionally easy, today’s interception of the Russian Flankers is all in days work for an RAF fighter pilot.”